One of the basic tasks of the human brain is to maintain order and consis
tency among all the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes it retains. A defen
sive attitude occurs within people when they encounter communication
situations with which they feel uncomfortable or will not tolerate. Defen
siveness causes a listener to resist both speaker and message. In addition,
defensiveness seems to be highly contagious and causes a deteriorating
cycle between those communicating. Defensiveness can best be reduced by
empathy, treatment of fellow communicators as equals, and genuineness.
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References
1.
Daniel Katz, "The Functional Approach to the Study of Attitudes," used by Harold H. Kassarjian and Thomas S. Robertson, Perspectives in Consumer Behavior (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1968), p. 128.
2.
William V. Haney, Communication and Organizational Behavior (Homewood, IL : Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1967), p. 70.
3.
Harold H. Kassarjian and Joel B. Cohen, "Cognitive Dissonance and Consumer Behavior," used by Harold H. Kassarjian and Thomas S. Robertson, Perspectives in Consumer Behavior , p. 180.
4.
James F. Engel, David T. Kollat, and Roger D. Blackwell , Consumer Behavior (New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1968), pp. 218-219.
5.
Ibid, p. 205.
6.
Haney, Communication and Organizational Behavior, p. 69.
7.
Ibid, p. 60.
8.
Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming A Person (Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1961), p. 18.
9.
Ibid, p. 333.
10.
Haney, Communication and Organizational Behavior, p. 62.
11.
Jack R. Gibb , "Defensive Communication," Journal of Communication, September 1961, pp. 141-148.
12.
Rogers, On Becoming A Person, p. 331.
13.
Engel, et al., Consumer Behavior, p. 180.
14.
Ibid, p. 176.
15.
Ibid.
16.
Ibid, pp. 176-177.
17.
Ibid., p. 177.
18.
Milton Rokeach, The Open and Closed Mind (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1960), p. 84.
19.
Engel, et al., Consumer Behavior, p. 179.
20.
Ibid, p. 196.
21.
Rogers, On Becoming A Person , pp. 47-49.
22.
David K. Berlo, Communicating Management's Point of View, one of five films in the Effective Communication Series (BNA, Inc., 1231 24th Street, N.W., Washington, DC).
23.
Rogers, On Becoming A Person , p. 22.
24.
Engel, et al., Consumer Behavior, p. 197.
25.
Robert B. Zajonc, "The Concepts of Balance, Congruity, and Dissonance," used by Kassarjian and Robertson, Perspectives in Consumer Behavior, p. 161.
26.
27.
Rogers, On Becoming A Person, p. 332.
28.
Carl R. Rogers and Richard E. Farson, "Active Listening," used by Haney, Communication and Organizational Behavior, p. 84.
29.
Rogers, On Becoming A Person, p. 336.
30.
Ibid, pp. 332-333.
31.
Gibb, " Defensive Communication," p. 142.
32.
Rogers, On Becoming A Person, p. 44.
33.
J.R. Gibb, "Defense Level and Influence Potential in Small Groups," L. Petrullo and B. M. Bass (eds.), Leadership and Interpersonal Behavior ( New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1961), pp. 66-81; used in Haney, Communication and Organizational Behavior, p. 75.
